Angela Entzel from Oakland takes her bike onto BART at MacArthur Station in Oakland.

Photo: Jessica Olthof / The Chronicle

Angela Entzel from Oakland takes her bike onto BART at MacArthur...

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BART plans to begin a second pilot test with bikes that will run from March 18 to 22, allowing bikes aboard trains during all hours when there is space.

Photo: Jessica Olthof, The Chronicle

BART plans to begin a second pilot test with bikes that will run...

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BART general manager Grace Crunican speaks with bicycle commuter Logan Kahle at the Embarcadero station in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. The transit agency is allowing bicyclists to board all trains during the commute rush hour as an experiment on Fridays during the month of August.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

BART general manager Grace Crunican speaks with bicycle commuter...

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Mino Bautista arrives at the Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 after commuting with his bicycle from Richmond. The transit agency is allowing bicyclists to board all trains during the commute rush hour as an experiment on Fridays during the month of August.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Mino Bautista arrives at the Embarcadero BART station in San...

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A bicycle is seen on the BART at the Civic Center BART station on Tuesday, July 31, 2012, in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Megan Farmer, The Chronicle

A bicycle is seen on the BART at the Civic Center BART station on...

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Bicycles are seen at the Civic Center BART station on Tuesday, July 31, 2012, in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Megan Farmer, The Chronicle

Bicycles are seen at the Civic Center BART station on Tuesday, July...

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Commuter Evelyn Davis holds her bike on a BART ride through San Francisco.

Photo: Megan Farmer / The Chronicle

Commuter Evelyn Davis holds her bike on a BART ride through San...

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Commuter Evelyn Davis is seen on BART with her bicycle at the 24th Street Station on Tuesday, July 31, 2012, in San Francisco, Calif.

With the number of Bay Area bike riders booming, BART is continuing to experiment with how to handle more bicyclists without irking other passengers on its increasingly crowded trains.

After a summer experiment - deemed successful by BART officials and bike advocates - in which the regional rail transit system abandoned its bike ban during commute hours on five Fridays, BART is preparing for a second test. During March 18-22, bikes will be allowed in BART stations and aboard all trains - where there's room - all day and night.

In addition to the bikes-on-board test, BART is also reconfiguring its rail cars to make more room for bikes, along with wheelchairs, luggage, strollers and standing riders, near train doors, and has plans to install more secure parking spots for bikes at stations, establish bike waiting areas at crowded stations, provide real-time information on train crowding, and participate in a regional bike-sharing plan.

Along with those improvements, BART will also launch campaigns on bike etiquette, keep bikes off of escalators, and encourage bicyclists to use the Montgomery Station instead of Embarcadero, which has narrower platforms and worse commute-hour crowding.

"We're trying to attract new riders who ride bikes," said Tom Radulovich, president of the Board of Directors. "We also want to encourage riders who drive to cycle, and we want to accommodate those riders who already cycle."

Commute ban lifted

BART has a history of cautiously welcoming bikes aboard its trains. When the system opened in 1972, bikes were banned. Three years later, BART agreed to allow bikes through the fare gates but bicyclists needed permits, and were only allowed to bring their bikes onto the rear of the last car of each train during non-commute hours. In 1988, BART allowed bikes on trains in the reverse commute direction. The permit requirement was dropped in 1997, and BART allowed bikes in all but the first car. A year later, the Richmond-Fremont line opened to unrestricted bike access.

During the March experiment, BART will lift its commute-hours ban, which varies by line but generally applies from 7-9 a.m. and 4:30-6:30 p.m. in commute directions. All other bike rules - including a prohibition on boarding crowded cars or blocking aisles, doors or accessible seats - will still apply.

Steve Beroldo, BART's access manager, said that surveys conducted after the five-Friday experiment in August found relatively little dissatisfaction. According to a random survey of 2,200 riders, 90 percent had no problems while 10 percent complained of blocked aisles or doors, bikes entering packed trains or being bumped into by a bike.

"Some people feared disastrous consequences if bikes were allowed on board" during the commute, said Shirley Johnson, a member of BART's Bicycle Access Task Force. "But the August pilot showed that just doesn't happen. Trains ran on time; there weren't safety issues; there weren't conflicts between bike passengers and walk-on passengers."

According to the survey, an equal percentage of people - 37 percent - favored eliminating the current restrictions as maintaining them.

Skeptical commuters

Bike advocates applauded BART's willingness to test unfettered access to bikes, as is done on the New York subway. Directors all supported the March experiment, but Zakhary Mallett, of Richmond, expressed skepticism about whether BART can handle bikes during the commute.

"We keep hearing that capacity is a big problem facing this district," he said. "Then we want to add to that capacity with bikes. When I ride BART every day, we're crammed on there like sardines."

Lark Hilliard, an Orinda resident who commutes to and from San Francisco on trains packed to capacity, said there's no room for bikes.

"What is BART management thinking?" she said. "My only guess is they are trying to appease the vocal and politically active bike riders. Bikes take up the space of four paying riders yet pay no additional fare. When the train is jammed, there is not room for bikes that don't fold."